Youh'Kai Deities
The Youh'Kai have a pantheon of related deities that love and hate each other, who scheme and fight and bicker much like any large family. Though their gods have clearly defined duties, they have complex personalities to say the least, including some one could classify as psychotic. The Youh’Kai are fierce and passionate people coming from a tribal culture, and their pantheon reflects much of that. Youh’Kai gods are fierce, passionate and occasionally vengeful, and while mostly rather dark in their stories, all of them seem to be able to laugh about themselves. Legends about the lives of the Gods are plentiful, and serve as an important oral tradition and propagation of moral values among the Youh’Kai. The Youh’Kai are generally very pious people, and almost every one will have at least a small shrine at home or carry one or more tokens of their chosen deity. Most Youh’Kai will pick a god they feel connected to and see themselves under his protection and guidance, though this dedication is often changed several times over the course of a Youh’Kai’s life. There are small chapels to most of the important Youh’Kai gods in any given city with a sizable alien population, but large temples are very rare. If at all, the larger complexes are monasteries devoted to one or several of their gods, and are located far away from any major settlement. Much like their human counterparts, priests of Youh’Kai gods can conjure miracles, but those miracles bear the ferocity and bloodthirstiness (other say the sick humor) of their gods. An important part of Youh’Kai religious history is the War in Heavens, a legend about a war between the gods that happened before the birth of the lesser races like the Youh’Kai and humanity. Little detail is known about this war, but apparently some gods betrayed the others, and a bitter war was waged between the two fractions. It is unclear which side won, if any, or if the war is truly over. The only commonly quoted fact is that we currently are living in some sort of armistice between the gods, and that the war might break loose any time again. There are countless gods in the belief system of the Youh’Kai, but only a handful of truly relevant ones, most of whom will be described below. All those gods describes will have two ‘areas of expertise’ mentioned, which will be the themes and motives most people will associate with that deity. A third, lesser known association will occasionally be added, mostly to explain (humans) why sometimes a rather gruesome deity can be held in high esteem by the Youh’Kai. When talking about Youh’Kai gods, it has to be mentioned that the Youh’Kai put much less emphasis on gender than humans. So if a deity is called a ‘goddess’ below, it only means that most of her depictions are in female form. There will always be imagery showing the god genderless or in the opposing gender, and there is no association between the predominant gender of the deity and the gender of his or her priests. Youh'Kai deities include Youh'Kai deities Category:Races Category:Youh'Kai